The End Comes Around
by Vincent Kemper
Summary: Hello! This is going to be my take a zombie apocalypse. A slow moving one that I feel should be more realistic that what Hollywood feeds us. Enjoy!
1. The End Comes Slow

**You ever notice how, in the movies, the world falls apart in a day when the first infected rises? Well, turns out that its all bullshit. The world stays alive and running for weeks before it collapses, when people they thought were dead take a chunk out of them. People who no one knew were infected dropping dead and coming back up, ready to dine on the flesh.**

**The only people that it didn't seem to effect was anyone under the age of seventeen; all of them seemed to have an immunity to the disease. As you got older, it began to fade away and you were just as susceptible to it as anyone else. Some people had a natural immunity to the infected, but most would die anyway from the diseases these things carry. A few people, though, had a very strange… never mind, I'll deal with that later.**

**In the beginning of the outbreak, there are plenty of areas that are totally fine for humans. Hell, in some areas that may even mean they don't know about the infection. But as the time rolls on, these areas begin to get smaller and smaller until finally, that final town falls.**

**Of course, that happened about two years after the first signs of the infection, one of which happened in my small, Midwestern town of House Springs. There were only six places that had the initial outbreak: my town, Venice, Moscow, Toronto, Seattle and a small city in Maine. Derry I think is what the news guy said.**

**But wait, where are my manners? I should have introduced myself, after all, you did manage to stumble across my records. My name is Derek, about six feet one inch, and Caucasian, just so you have the image properly at this time I have brown hair with streaks of white due to…certain things.**

**I think I will start from the beginning of the outbreak, from where I was at ground zero. It was 2010 and I was helping chaperone a local Homecoming dance for some quick cash for that Saturday…**

A/N**:** Hello friends! Just letting you guys know how the story will be working. Anything that is written in bold is going to be anything from whatever the present is, coming from Derek. Anything not is of course going to be the story at hand.

I decided to write this based on something that has always irked me about anything zombie related: The world falls apart in about two second after on person takes a munch on someone. Look at the Dawn of the Dead remake, everything went to hell overnight. _E-V-E-R-Y-W-H-E-R-E! _I am not going to do that, instead it is going to be a slow moving outbreak but with different types of zombies. What kind? You'll just have to see.


	2. The Homecomming is Ruined!

Twenty-five. I'm twenty-five years old and I have to baby sit these bastards,_ Derek though bitterly as the unpleasant music flooded the overheated gymnasium. Well, at least I brought my own music._ Not like he could hear it, the outside music drowning out any other possible noise. He could probably fire a gun and no one would hear it.

The gym itself was two levels with an indoor track on the top. There was a large opening so you could look down easily onto the basketball court. He had been spending most of his night up on this area so he could avoid the kids and to thwart any kids trying to sneak out. He tried to dress somewhat imposing for the event, staying within his comfort limits while still being classy: Dark blue jeans, black t-shirt, leather jacket and black cowboy boots.

Though he may not be enjoying his job, Derek was desperate for some extra cash and he took up the first ad he saw. He was happy to see that he wasn't the only one his age to be doing this, having found an attractive woman to chat with whenever they weren't inside the gym.

Through his semi-suave motions, he was able to find out her name was Emily and why she was here. She too was pressed for some extra money to pay her rent and keep a credit card in check. In exchange for her telling, he informed her that he had few loans to pay back on, but he didn't tell her what the loans were for.

Derek was walking on the upper floor of the gym when the song had faded and a new one had not started up after a few moments. Derek instinctively reaching his hand to the holster on his hip, descended down the stairs to the floor. He headed over to the DJ booth past a sea of confused rich teenagers, wondering what he would find. _Probably went to the can and passed out, honestly don't blame him._

He peeked over the front of the booth as soon as a girl shrieked in shock. The DJ was on the floor, though laying on it would have been a stretch. He was convulsing wildly, a white foam frothing from his mouth. Another man, a stocky, balding man and the principal of the school, had already pulled out his phone to dial 911 when the man stopped flopping, rolling out of the booth and letting out one last breath.

The principle was talking to the operator as Derek moved closer to the body, placing his fingers on his neck to try and find a pulse. He found nothing, so he stood back up as the principle said, "They are sending an ambulance now. Should be here in about five minutes."

"Like it really matters, this guy is dead," Derek muttered as he walked over to the now sweating educational administrator. "You should probably have these kids get out of here. Better to spare them the sight of death now." The man nodded and began to prod the teens away from the cooling corpse, a lot of them trying to get a peek at the body.

Emily had fought her way through the crowd to see what had happened, stopping next to Derek before turning away. He filled her in with what had just happened when he heard a strange gurgling sound from the behind the booth.

Derek, who had never stopped looking at the booth, took a few cautious steps to the back of the booth, hoping it wasn't what the news had mentioned what had happened in Derry. He had heard a few reports from there and Moscow of things like this happening, but he had hoped it was just localized.

**Man, how wrong was I?**

The DJ was slowly sitting back up, the froth and saliva running down his chin and pooling on his shirt. It was one of the more disgusting things Derek had seen in his life, but he had to keep his head clear. He reached for the holster once more, drawing a Colt 1911 (9mm, 15 Round Magazine) and taking aim , centering the sight on the former DJ's head.

Derek was pulling on the trigger when there was a strong tug on his arm; the principle had grabbed his arm and pulled it aside just as he fired. The round ricocheted off the floor and planted itself in the retracted bleachers. "What the hell do you think you are doing? You know what he is now?" Derek seethed at the administrator, but the man took no mind as he shoved Derek aside.

"Why do you have a gun in my sc…" That was as far as he got, because in the next instant the DJ was on his feet and lunged at the principle. The struggle was short, ending with the principle being knocked prone with a large chunk missing from his arm.

_Damn it_, Derek thought as he took aim again at the DJ, but now the infected was moving faster than what he was used aiming at. He didn't expect them to be able to sprint like that and had not taken that into consideration the last few weeks, so he quickly hatched a slightly insane plan.

Taking a deep breath, he charged directly at the jockey, tackling him from behind just as he had reached a frightened girl. Before the infected was able to react fully to the change, Derek pointed his firearm at his head once again and fired. The round tore clean in his brain and he fell still, forever this time.

Now at this point things get a little messy but not for too long. The paramedics arrived along with a two local policemen. The paramedics took the soon-to-be-dead principle onto a stretcher and the police questioned me. It's at this point the night really starts to go downhill, mainly because they forgot to strap him down. Within a few seconds, we now had three infected inside this school.

My mind just froze and time seemed to slow down as I tried to think of a plan of action. The cops would not have listened to me and would arrest me if I tried to take care of the zombies. I could, however, leave but not until I picked up someone…

The lights were on in the locker room as Derek charged his way in, looking for anything that may have been moved. He was sure he had seen her come back here when the DJ turned, but he wasn't certain and was now entering the girls locker room. He had tried the guys but there was no luck there, so he went to the next logical place.

There wasn't much to say about the locker room, it was pretty standard: about sixty full lockers in a U shape plus a door that led to the bathroom. There was a gym bag sitting on the ground next to that door, but it was stuffed full of sports equipment.

"Emily? Are you in here," he whispered as loud as he could, pistol drawn and at the ready, just in case.

"Yeah, I'm in here," the locker he had just walked passed said. There was a gentle scrape of metal as she pulled the tab open from the inside and swung the door open. She stumbled out of the locker, having misjudged her step out from the metal box.

As she brushed herself off, he finally noticed two things. The first being that she was going to have to get some different clothes. She was wearing a very nice looking dress, but for travel she was going to need some new attire. The second thing he noticed was that she definitely did not play into the damsel in distress role, at all. She may be pretty, but she looked like she knew how to handle herself.

Derek walked over to her, taking just one step to get on the same area as her. He extended a hand to her, a grin forming but quickly disappearing as she grabbed his hand. She had a pretty good grip and held on well as he pulled her up onto her feet. The two locked eyes for a moment before Derek broke the gaze, heading over to the door he came in at. He opened the door and poked his head out, making sure the cost was clear before heading out.

He heard a few gunshots sound in the gym, slightly muffled by the concrete walls and long corridor. He felt his stomach fall out as the shots continued, followed by some more screaming. He took a look at Emily, who seemed to be doing quite well despite the current situation; she seemed even more steeled than Derek. He held his hand back out to her, beckoning for her to head over.

"Come with me if you want to live."

A/N: Sorry that I had to remove this a couple times. FanFiction kept screwing with the font.


	3. Let the Running Commence

**Things from the locker room were fairly straight forward, just a good old fashioned run through the gym filled with frightened teens. I couldn't get a good shot at any of the infected without risking hitting a kid. It was up to them to get there way out now since they were all beyond the point of counsel. When we got to the parking lot, though, that was when things got, well, just listen.**

The lot was in chaos, which was surprising for the short amount of time since his ricocheted bullet. But this also a school that had students that had never dealt with such a situation before. _Well, to be honest I don't think zombies are on the curriculum._ Derek looked around the lot, trying to remember where he left his car.

"Hey, I need you to look for a…" he was interrupted by a man bumping into him, the strangers arm bleeding like a faucet. Derek collected himself, finishing with, "Ok, I need you to look for a dark gray utility van. It should be the only one in the lot."

Emily looked for a moment before saying, "You mean the dark gray child rapist van? Yeah, I saw it when I pulled in." She pointed to a spot in the far corner. "It's right over there."

Derek sighed loud enough for her to hear it as he fished his keys out from his jacket pocket. As he placed the electronic lock in his hand, he took a look at his handgun and wondered what to do next. "OK," he said, turning to face his companion, "just bee-line straight to the van and we'll figure out what to do next."

"Hold on a sec," she said back, bending over to undo the clasps on her heels. As she got them off she held on to them by the heel itself, saying, "Let's go!" With that remark, the two of them darted down the lot, avoiding cars and panicked teenagers. Emily, without her shoes on, was making much better time then Derek was able to muster with his boots on. The ones he was wearing really weren't meant for running or any kind of strenuous movement, just for show.

They were making pretty good headway when a car pulled out of its space wildly, the driver apparently acting like a stuntman. There was no time to react as the passenger door made hard contact with Derek, knocking the breath out of him and sending him sprawling on the cold asphalt. He landed on his back with a thud, groaning with pain as he struggled to move his limbs when he heard Emily screaming something.

He painfully lifted his head to see that there was a car speeding down the lane, coming right at him. Derek knew that if he stayed put his head was going to get a lot smaller, so he did the only thing he could think of: He ducked his head and rolled onto his stomach, hoping it was enough.

He felt the air rush over him and the soft leather of his jacket tear as the car raced centimeters above his body. He felt someone at his side and realized Emily was there, helping stand him back onto his feet, taking the keys from him as well. "Are you ok?" she asked him as she got him back onto the ground, holding him steady against her smaller form.

He took in a deep breath, his chest shooting with pain where it expanded. He quickly let it out before saying, "Yeah, I'm fine, just knocked the wind out of me. It'll probably bruise but I'll live, we need to keep going," he said as he took a shaky step to his van.

"I'm going to need you to drive, is that alright?" Derek asked Emily as they made there slow and shaky way to the van.

She nodded her head as she shook the keys she took from him, saying ,"I figured you would want me to." He chuckled a little as he finally made it to the van, resting against the passenger door while Emily unlocked it. The van was parked in the furthest corner from the gym, leaving a good open space between the panicking students and the homicidal cars.

He climbed in once the door was able to be opened, clasping the seatbelt in place as Emily climbed in, slamming her door and hitting the electronic locks. She started the car right after, quickly pulling out of the parking space and roaring down the lot.

**I don't really remember much of what happened for about twenty minutes after that. I got real light headed and closed my eyes for a minute, passing out. When I woke back up, all I saw was the street lamps streaking by…**

Derek lifted his head up from the door, rubbing his eyes as he looked around the inside of the vehicle. Emily had her eyes focused on the road ahead, ready to dart out of the way at a moments notice, but she still seemed to be going the speed limit. She broke her gaze as he moved, flashing him a smile as she said, "We just left House Springs and are now on the way into Fenton. Did you have a good nap?"

He grumbled a little as he said, "Oh yes. Nothing like getting hit by a car to put you in the mood for a good nap." He could tell she was a little hurt by his response, realizing she was trying to keep the mood light, so he hastily added, "It was good."

Her bright features returned as she said, "Good, because we have to stop somewhere so I can get some new clothes. I've already got it planned out to get there, since we are far enough away, but how are we going to…"

"Don't worry about the money," Derek said as pulled his wallet out of his ruined jacket. He rifled through the credit cards when he pulled out a black Visa card. "This has no limit on it as long as we stay under ten thousand dollars a day. So as long as we don't stock up on purses we should be OK."

She smiled at that as she pulled off the highway, heading up to the big Wal-Mart that Fenton was home to. "OK, I'll get some better clothes but what are you going to do in the meantime?"

"I'm going to get a whole bunch of aspirin and stock up on as much canned goods a shopping cart will hold. After you get what you need, meet me over there, alright?" Derek looked at her as she nodded, admiring her level headed approach to this ordeal. She was completely calm and focused on the task at hand. "Do you have any family that you need to call or…"

She shook her head, responding, "No, non that I speak to anyway." She cleared her throat, obviously wanting to end this discussion now. It didn't matter as much as they were pulling into the parking lot for the large conglomerate, giving her something else to think about.

As the van pulled into the space, Derek opened up his door and gingerly stepped out of the vehicle, picking up his wallet and moving it to his jean pocket. He pulled off his ruined jacket and tossed it back into the van, his long sleeves keeping the chill out for the moment.

**From here, it was almost like a normal shopping trip, if by normal one buys two pairs of jeans, a pair of tennis shoes and hiking boots, some basic T-shirts and $500 of canned foods, ramen noodles and bottled water. Man, I bought three carts worth of water that night, gallon jugs, individual bottles, anything. I was even able to grab three of those great big ones you see in office water coolers. I had also picked up a bunch of those powders that add nutrients to the water as well, in addition to a few cases of soda, just to break the monotony.**

Derek was allowing Emily to get changed in the back of the van before they loaded it up with their purchases. Even though the back of the van was closed off from the front and there were no windows in the back, she still took her time getting everything together.

After twenty minutes, the door popped open and a more comfortable looking woman stepped out of the van. At first Derek didn't see anything all that different about her other than her change in clothing until he got closer to her when they both hoisted a case of water into the van: she had taken off her makeup.

After they got the last of it inside the car, keeping the aftermarket bench seat in the back clear of any product, Emily looked at Derek, asking, "How is your chest doing?"

He took a deep breath, wincing just a bit from the pain, but noted it was much more bearable. "I'll live," he said as popped out a bottle of ibuprofen, taking two capsules and swallowing them dry. "Well, let's get this movable feast underway."

She smiled at him as she went back to the drivers side, getting the engine started before Derek could even get in. "I must say, you need a new jacket," she pointed out, having to toss his ruined jacket onto the floor.

"I know, but it shouldn't be to hard to find a new one in the morning. Speaking of, where are we going?" Emily was driving the van toward the small city of Arnold, somewhere Derek was not fond of but wasn't going to mention that right now.

"I live here, I figured we would stay in my apartment for a few days to see what would happen," Emily said, smiling sheepishly. "I just wanted to buy the clothes in case we didn't make it back for some reason."

He chuckled at her confession. "It's OK, I don't really blame you and besides, it would have been rude of me to have refused." They both laughed at that as the van sailed down the empty street.

**What's left to say about night one? Not much really, we just got to her apartment without any hassle. The stuff we bought stayed in the van, though she made sure to park the van as close to her balcony as she could. Oh, yes, she had an apartment on the second floor, making any defense much easier now that all we would have to do is destroy the stairs.**

**I crashed on her couch that night. It was a comfortable couch, nice and soft.**


	4. All Good Things

**You know, even though all of this happened nearly twenty years ago, I just now realized that I should have found it odd that she didn't seem to mind I was prepared for this. I'm sure any other person would have taken issue with the fact I seemed to know what was going on and how to handle it. I guess it's one of those things I will never really know the answer to because I never asked the question.**

**Anyway, back to what happened after we got to her apartment. In the morning she left with one of her friends to go and pick up her car from the school, but I stayed behind because I did not feel like dealing with the cops. While she was gone, I decided to poke around the living room of her apartment while I listened to the news, the events of last night taking top priority.**

**As I was poking through her kitchen to take stock of the immediate food, I heard the newscaster talk about the victims, the newly turned. They were locked up in a quarantine at the hospital not twenty minutes from the apartment, apparently being studied. Fat lot of good it did for us then, they never did find anything out, about the virus or anything.**

**I felt pretty terrible actually, being here. I had actually committed a felony by having that gun with me in that school and by having drawn it, I would be prosecuted if found. Being thrown in prison with the potential of a zombie outbreak was not in my plan, so I knew I couldn't go home.**

Derek had just finished his checklist of Emily's cupboard when she finally came back. "I guess the police had a lot of questions?" He turned and looked at her as he set his notebook down.

"Yeah, it wasn't a whole lot of stuff, they just wanted to know the details. They really want to talk to you," she said as she sat down on her couch, tossing her jacket to the side.

Derek snorted as he walked over to her dining room table and sat down. "I'll bet they do, after all I did draw a firearm in a school. Did they say who identified me?"

Emily shook her head, "No, but it could have been anyone of those kids that were there. I guess you will be staying here for a few days then?"

Sighing, he said, "Yeah, I'll hang out here for a couple of days until they stop caring,." He stood up from his chair and walked over to the patio window, looking at his van. "I need to put a list together of the stuff I have in there too."

"Some other time," Emily said as she changed the channel on the TV. "Just hope that the events don't escalate into something terrible." She was flipping through the channels as Derek returned to his chair, reviewing his notes.

He was planning out a ration schedule when he remembered something. "Damn," he mumbled as he pulled his phone out of his pocket.

"What?" Emily looked over from the TV to see what he was talking about, puzzled expression crawling over her face.

He looked at her as he placed his phone to his ear. "I need to call my work to let them know I'm not coming in for a few days."

She cocked her head, still looking puzzled. "Won't they know about the whole thing at the school? That doesn't seem like a good idea."

"Oh," Derek said, feeling very stupid as he disconnected from the line, setting it down on her table.

"For all your planning you are doing, you do jump the gun quite a bit, don't you?" The puzzlement was gone, replaced by amusement. "Oh, that reminds me, stay right there." She got up from the couch and ran outside, Derek not knowing where exactly she was going.

She returned a moment later with a large shopping bag in hand. "I hope you don't mind that I used your card for it, but I thought you would like it." She handed the bag to him, sitting opposite of him at the table.

The bag was heavy, giving Derek some curiosity to his unexpected present. He reached inside the plastic back and withdrew a brand new leather jacket. Unlike his ruined one this one was a dark brown, more suede than leather. He was so shocked that he failed to notice that the bag wasn't totally empty yet.

"That's the one you bought, the other one is from me," Emily said as Derek set the jacket on the table, pulling out the other one. This one was closer to the jacket that he had before, but it was made of thicker, more durable leather. He looked at her with awe in his eyes, not expecting such a gift from someone he barely knew. "Consider it a thank you for helping save my life."

**To be honest I actually felt like crying a bit when I pulled those jackets from the bag, hell I'm still wearing the one she bought me. The other one… well there is a story behind it, but that will be told when the time is right. When she gave me those I honestly felt like everything was going to be fine and this would all blow over.**

**We spent the next few days at her place, getting to know each other better. We learned a lot then, about our families, hygiene habits you name it. Everything was going so smoothly, so perfectly which made me realize that it wasn't going to last. Well as they say, all good things must come to an end.**

A/N: Sorry it took a while to get this one posted up, damn finals, which attributes to the short length. Anyway, enjoy!


	5. Time to Run

**It had been three days before we heard any news on what was going on inside the hospital, of what it was they were studying. Of course, they had discovered that these people were in fact reanimated corpses of the recently deceased. They hadn't figured out you were supposed to kill them, but I already knew what the solution was for that. Any sane person would know.**

"We need to get out of here soon," Derek said as he began to take the canned goods out of Emily's pantry and packed them into a milk crate. "Time is running out." He set the crate by the door and immediately set to work on the weapons he had brought in, taking a seat at the couch. He had quite a spread in front of him: two shotguns, one rifle and two handguns.

All of the weapons had been taken apart and cleaned just a few hours before, so now he was checking the sights on them. His shotguns were a Mossberg 500 pump action with an eight shell magazine and a Remington 1100 with a seven shell magazine. His lone rifle was the rugged SIG 556 with a collapsible butt-stock, chambered for .223 Remington with a thirty round magazine. The handguns on the table had been his for a few years, the Colt 1911 and the much smaller Glock 30, also chambered for 9mm and a ten round magazine.

As soon as he finished adjusting the sights on the Glock, he placed of the weapons in their protective cases, except for the two handguns. He put the Colt in its holster on his belt and took the two magazines and slid them into the magazine pouch. He also slid a flashlight into the custom made holster, designed for the exact type of light he was carrying. He took a look at the Glock before picking it up and walking over to where Emily was looking out the window.

"Here, you may need this," Derek said, handing her the small pistol. She smiled meekly at him as she pushed it away, walking into the kitchen and turning on the sink. He felt sympathy for her; after all, it wasn't like he had asked her into this mess. At the same time though, he knew that it may be a long road ahead for them.

She sighed from the kitchen as Derek made his way back to the table, setting the gun on it. He picked up the cases for the other weapons and made his way to the van to secure them. Once he had finished, he slammed the back door of the van and made his way back into the apartment. As he got closer to the door, he heard a noise coming from inside. It sounded just like whimpering.

He opened the door and saw Emily sitting on her couch with the Glock held in her hand tightly, her finger not even close to the trigger. She was clearly wiping her eyes when Derek walked back in asking, "So, is everything all set..." She trailed off from there, clearly fighting against her emotions.

"Look, I know that this is not a comfortable experience, but you can get through this.," he said as he made his way over to the couch, sitting next to her. "You handled yourself in the school so well, just remember that, and you won't have any problems." He reached over and gently loosened her grip on the weapon, taking it from her ever-so-slowly. Once it was freed he set it back down on the table and as soon as the gun left his hand, she nestled right on him, her head resting on his chest.

_Wait, when did this start? Well, nothing I can do right now,_ he thought as she closed her eyes, a single tear falling down her cheek.

**What, you think I should have done something more? That would have spoiled the moment, even more so than what happened just a few hours later...**

Derek sat as still as possible, keeping the volume of the television as low as possible as he watched the news. He didn't even try to adjust his own body to reduce the pain from the gun jabbing sharply into his thigh. She hadn't made a sound in the entire four hours she had been asleep, just breathing and occasionally adjusting in her spot.

The six o'clock news had just come on and there was no mention of anything that had happened at that hospital. It just seemed to be an ordinary slow news day; sports, traffic, weather, the usual things. All the while though Derek swore that he was hearing a low buzzing sound, like a gigantic fly a few miles away.

_It sounds so fami..._ Derek began to think but was cut off by an ear splitting siren, the buzzing changing into a whirling noise. _Oh no._

Emily was jolted from her sleep, sitting up sharply with a wild look in her eyes. "What's going on?" she asked as Derek stood from the couch, walking to the window. She picked up the handgun and walked over to him to see what was going on.

There were already people outside looking around with bewilderment, not knowing what was happening. "Nothing good. Come on, let's get out of here now. Grab that belt next to the table, it has the holster for that gun," Derek said. Emily moved over to the table and picked up the thick leather belt, quickly looping it through her jeans and placing the weapon in the holster.

Derek had already made his way outside, his hand reaching back to his gun just in case he needed it. Emily ran up next to him and joined him on the descent down the steps, briskly making their way to the van. They were interrupted by a loud whine of microphone feedback as a helicopter idled above them menacingly. By straining his eyes, Derek could see that there were a few other helicopters in the distance, each going to places where there should be a mass of people.

"Citizens, there is no reason to be alarmed, we ask that you remain calm, go to your vehicle and drive to the marked safety zone. There is no reason..." Derek had already stopped listening to the recorded announcement, continuing his stride to the van.

Emily kept up with him, asking, "Are we going to the zone?"

Derek just looked at her as he approached the passenger side, opening the door for her. "Don't you watch movies? You never go to the safe zones." He closed the door as soon as she was inside and went over to his door.

He climbed inside and quickly belted in, starting the engine and throwing it in reverse, peeling out of the space. He popped it into drive and hit the gas, roaring out into the fading light.

**Yeah I know, I trusted a movie cliché but you know what, it worked out almost better in the long run. We drove for a while, dodging an attempted blockade and making our way out to the sticks. It was actually quite a bit more challenging that we realized though.**

It was well past midnight when Derek pulled the van into a surprisingly empty gas station, the open light flickering. There was no attendant to be seen, so Derek waited for a moment before stepping out of the vehicle.

They were in the middle of nowhere, nearly a hundred miles from the apartment complex, having taken quite a few back roads and had gone slowly, keeping their eyes open. Derek set his boots on the hard asphalt and walked over to the pump, examining it for age. It was old, so old that it didn't have a reader on it for credit cards, just the numbers for the dollars and gallons.

_Maybe there is something on the inside_, Derek thought, walking back to the van. "Hey, I'm gonna check inside to see if there is anyone here, please lock the doors. I'm going to take my radio with me and let you know what I find," he said to Emily, who nodded as he slammed the door. There was a faint click as the electronic locks latched closed, Derek already having walked away.

It was a squat building with a small cash area with gas cans and oil and some basic food items, but no drinks. There was an attached auto repair shop, the shutters pulled down and the lights off inside. The lights were on inside the cash area, where Derek was walking in and taking a quick look at his surroundings. He was completely alone in this room and he did not like that at all, placing his hand right back on his gun.

"Hello?" he called out and heard no reply, so he pulled out the radio and pressed the transmitter, whispering, "Emily? Go ahead and start pumping gas into the van and into the spare tanks if they need any. I won't be too long."

"_OK, please hurry. It's real damn creepy out here,_" she whispered back. Derek placed the radio back in his jacket pocket and stepped behind the counter, looking for anyone. Then he heard a chewing sound, like the sound of someone eating ribs.

_Oh, damn it all_, Derek thought, listening to see where the noise was coming from. It was clearly coming from inside the auto repair shop, the dark repair shop, the shop he really didn't want to go into. _ I can't just leave it here for someone else to get chomped on by it... here it goes._ Derek pulled the weapon from its holster with his right hand and trained it on the door. With his left hand he pulled the flashlight out and clicked in on, training that on the door as well.

Walking to the door with tentative steps, he stuck the flashlight in his mouth as he worked at the door knob. It was locked, causing Derek to release a breath he didn't even realize he was holding, backing away from the door, putting the light away. _See, it's locked in that room, so it should be..._

There was a thudding coming from the door he had just walked away from, just a dull thud, nothing to be afraid of. It was when the thuds got louder, when the door started to shake off its hinges that Derek froze, his gun still trained on the door. The door shook a few more times and then it stopped, a scratching sound now coming from the other side.

_What the..._ Derek thought just before the door burst open, hanging just by the upper hinge, but what was standing in the door was what caught his attention. There was a six foot tall shirtless man there with muscles that were nearly bulging right off his body, a visible bite mark on his arm. He looked around the room, not taking any breaths as he found Derek, charging forward at breakneck speed.

Derek did the only thing he could think of, fire his gun right at the beast. The round hit it square in the chest but did nothing to slow the monster, so Derek leaped out of the way. He dove behind the counter as the beast issued a cry of rage as its fist collided with the wall, putting a hole in it. The radio in his jacket now blaring, but he had no time to answer it now. He quickly stood back up and pointed the Colt at it and aimed for the head, squeezing the trigger.

The round struck true, right through the temple and this time the beast flinched, roared again then fell against the wall, a streak of blood going against it. Derek took a deep breath as he stepped past the creature, running out the door and straight to the van.

"We need to get out of here now," he said to Emily, who had just replaced the gas pump and had the radio clutched in her hands.

"What was that thing," she asked as she got back inside the vehicle.

"I have no idea."

A/N: See what happens when I don't have finals?


	6. Future Present

A/N: Since I love the five of you that have me on Alert, this one is going to be long. Of course, I love the rest of you guys that read it too, just leave a review! Oh and by the way, cookies to those that notice the names I blatantly took from another zombie franchise.

**Yes, my first encounter, probably the first ever encounter with a mutated infected. That was the only zombie that we ran into for a while, keeping away from the bigger cities. We took refuge inside a biggish motel in Allentown, renting two rooms on the lower level right next to each other.**

"So, you rented the rooms for a week? Will we even be here that long?" Emily asked from her chair as Derek sat on the bed, checking over a map of the U.S. and punching in the names of different towns on a laptop. He had purchased the computer from an electronics store on their way there, along with a portable GPS system to chart a course.

"Maybe, it all depends," he responded, punching in another town into the GPS. "If the quarantine back home drops, we'll just head back. If it spreads..." he was unable to finish his response because there was a loud pounding on the door.

A man began to plead from the other side, saying softly, "Please, let me in. I know you guys came from Arnold, I did too. Please, you can trust me." Derek set his laptop aside and placed the GPS on the keyboard, picking up his Colt and walking over to the door.

He placed his hand on the knob, asking, "You got a name?"

"Dan, Dan Lynch," the voice responded. Derek twisted the knob and pulled open the door, a weary looking man stepping in. He was about as tall as Derek but his hair was black, clearly dyed. He also had quite a bit of scruff on his face and had a faint odor of sweat coming from his beat up clothes. He shivered as he stepped in, a light snow beginning to fall outside and a gust of cold air following him in.

He took off his tattered green jacket and let it fall to the floor, rubbing his hands together as he adjusted to the heat of the room. "Thank you so much for this. Can I use the shower," Dan asked, standing right next to the door of the bathroom.

Derek nodded but before he went in, Derek said, "Leave your clothes out so we can get you some new ones."

"What? No, I can't ask you to do that," Dan said, but Derek held up his hand, shaking his head.

"You came to us and if this gets worse, you'll need all the help you can get," Emily said, getting up to join Derek. As Dan walked into the bathroom she looked at Derek, saying, "We need to get a room for him too , since we are a bit cramped for space and I am not sharing a bed with him."

"Yeah, I know that, I'll take care of the room if you would go get the clothes. I think there was a mom and pop store that sold some," he said, grabbing his wallet and throwing his jacket back on. He pulled out the credit card and handed it to Emily. "Stock up."

She smiled at him, saying, "You know me." She picked up her coat and slipped it on, opening the door and stepping out, Derek right behind her. He pointed out the store for her, just right across the street from the motel. As she walked over, Derek went back to the front office and checked out the room next to his, not Emily's.

He walked back into his room just in time to see Dan come out of the bathroom with a fluffy white bathrobe on. Derek walked over to him and handed him the key, a look of shock on the other man's eyes.

"Don't mention it," Derek said, preempting the conversation and picking his laptop back up punching in more destinations into the GPS. "Emily should be back soon with the clothes, so you can get set up in your room."

"Why are you guys being so nice to me?" Dan asked, slightly incredulous. "You don't even know me and hell, I don't even know you."

Derek looked back up, responding, "Because you'll need all the friends you can get."

**Dan was pretty nice guy, but did he have quite the story to tell us. He had escape from Arnold as well except he had gone through the woods on a dirt bike, avoiding the blockades. While he was in the woods is when he saw our van slip by a blockade, so he decided to follow us for a bit. He wasn't very good at tracking us though, seeing as he lost us about twenty minutes after we took a turn off the highway. What's worse, we weren't even that far away from him and he still didn't find us.  
**

**After he lost us, he stumbled across a convenience store and decided to do some breaking and entering. It had turned out quite poorly for him as the place was rigged with an alarm, so he had to ditch the place. Before he had left he had heard the gunshots from my attempt at killing the mutant zombie, so he decided to follow that.**

**He found the same gas station and found the hulk we had left behind but since I never did check that garage, what it had been eating was now eating it. He dispatched the zombie mechanic by hitting it the head with a small magazine rack. He pilfered out some of the gas for his bike and found a small .22 caliber handgun behind the counter, thankfully for him it was fully loaded.**

**It didn't matter much though because he lost the gun about twenty minutes later while he was trying to follow us. He lost it because the front tire of his bike unhitched and flew off, causing him to wreck the bike, so he had to make the journey on foot. He had made use of several rest areas, taking his time there to listen to the radio and catch up on what he could about the quarantine. He didn't hear about much, so he continued on his journey. **

**He found us by pure accident, nearly walking right past the motel we were at. I wouldn't be so shocked about that if it wasn't for the fact the van was one of three cars here.  
**

The three of them sat in Derek's room, trying to figure out what the plan should be. So far it just seemed that they were going to stay put inside this hotel without hearing anything of the infection spreading this way. Everyone seemed content on that, but now the question had turned to how they were going to fit in the van.

"Don't you have that bench in the back? He could sit there," Emily had said, but Derek was having issues with the idea.

"I don't want to risk the supplies falling on you," Derek said, directing that to Dan. "We would put you in the front, but there isn't any room."

"How about I figure out a way to put the supplies in a way so I can sit there," Dan said, getting up to go check out the back of the van. He was gone for just a few moments, saying, "Give me tonight and I should have a good set-up."

Derek nodded his head, saying, "Just don't throw anything out and we'll be all set."

"Don't worry, I'll just move stuff around."

**And that was exactly what he did, making a good spot to sit with the bench. Granted, he was still surrounded by the stuff, but he would be able to get in and out without problems. **

**It was nice having a new person in the group, but for obvious reasons it made Emily closer to me. I'm not saying that was a bad thing considering that I was hitting on her at that dance. I just wished that the circumstances were less life threatening.**

Derek was the first one to wake up in the morning, immediately turning on the TV so he could listen to the news. As he was preparing to take a shower he heard the news anchor say something he had been dreading for the last week. The quarantine in Arnold had broken in addition to the one in Derry, Maine had fallen. The infection had escaped and was now spreading in every direction, including where they were located.

_Well, now this could be bad_, Derek thought, skipping his shower and getting dressed. He pounded on the doors to his friends rooms, not telling them why he needed to see them so early.

It took about five minutes before they were in the room, but they still weren't fully dressed. He bluntly told them what happened, the shock of the news settling in on the two of them.

"So, what do we do now?" Emily asked, pacing around the room while Dan just sat in his chair.

"One day is about all we can stay, then we need to move," Derek said. He looked over at Dan, asking, "What do you think?"

"Hell, I don't know. Is there a chance that this can still be contained?"

"Don't know about that yet. What I do think we should do is at least leave the state..." Derek said but was interrupted by Dan.

"My parents!" he exclaimed.

"What about them?" Derek asked.

"They live near Arnold. I have to go get them," he said, looking around at the two of them.

"But what if the infection has spread too far out and we won't make it out alive?" Derek stated, but Emily shot him a scathing look.

"What if it was your family?" she asked him. Derek just shook his head at the comment, but she did have a valid point.

"OK, tonight we'll try and head back, but if it's been blockaded then I'm sorry," he said, but he was unsure that this was the best plan. After all, they were quite safe here and it made no sense to return to the place where the infection was localized. He knew, though, that it was the right thing to do.

* * *

"So that's exactly what we decided to do, head back to the city when night fell so we could reach it at dawn, but I think that's enough for the story right now," Derek said to the now nervous looking teenage boy. The two of them were sitting at a worn down collapsible table on two rusted metal chairs. The were inside the one room cabin the was Derek's home and a cozy one at that, nestled inside the Safe House encampment.

"Wait, so you're just going to leave me hanging like that? You're such a jerk man," the kid said, fuming in his rickety folding chair. He was about fifteen years old with short brown hair and dark green eyes

Derek just smiled at him, saying, "I've been talking about it for two hours, Thomas. I need a break." Thomas didn't see it that way, but Derek really did need to take a break; he could only talk about his past for so long. "Just let me get some water, then I'll keep going," he said, walking over to the big blue Aquatainer.

He picked it up and gently shook it, listening for the water and heard hardly anything inside. "OK, I'm going to go get a refill, then I'll get my water, then I'll start up," he said.

Thomas nodded but before Derek could step out, the teen asked, "Why don't you ever take off that jacket? Is it the one she gave you?" Derek was clad in the jacket that Emily had given him all those years ago.

"When that part of the story comes, I'll let you know," Derek said, heading into the bright sunlight.

The encampment was located on the Mexican border, the entire camp positioned right next to a dusty highway. There was a total population of fifty people from all over the continent, Derek having been one of the last to arrive two years ago.

The mini town, as it had been cleverly named, was founded by a couple named Jill and Chris Melbourne around four years ago as small refuge that steadily grew. It originally only had four people in it but they left a frequency open on a CB and invited almost anyone who could make it. The almost consisted of those who had been bitten or the occasional bandit squad, though neither type popped up anymore.

Derek was heading to the well in the middle of the town, a spot where many of the dwellers seemed to congregate during the day. It was pretty much the only social event left, a place where people could talk about how things used to be and how things were going to be. Most of the town consisted of people who remembered how things were, but that number was going to be outnumbered soon.

Derek stuck the Aquatainer next to the well faucet and unscrewed the top, setting the wide mouth under the basin. As he pulled back on the handle someone approached from behind, obscuring the sun. "You probably wouldn't need so much water if you took that jacket off from time to time," a female voice said.

"Now Jean you know I can't do that," he said, the container filling with water. "Coming to check up on your kid? He's still in my cabin."

"I figured as much, he'd been wanting to ask you about your story for so long but was always nervous about it," she said, kneeling down next to him.

"I guess he got bored of hearing about your story?" Derek said with a sly smile that Jean returned.

"I guess one could said that. Just tell him that I do expect him home at some point tonight," she said as Derek screwed the cap back onto the container. He simply nodded at her as stood back up, turning on his heel as he walked back to his cabin.

He could practically feel the anticipation emanating off the door, so he opened the door as slowly as he could. He had only gotten it about a quarter when it was pried open by Thomas, saying, "Don't leave me hanging like that."

"Sorry, couldn't help it," Derek said, setting the container back on its shelf, pouring a fresh glass of water. This glass, Thomas noted, had a drawing of a lobster on it, the paint having chipped in some spots.

Derek took his seat back in front of the boy, taking a sip from his glass. "OK, so where did I leave off? Ah yes, we were going back to Arnold to check on Dan's parents..."

* * *

Derek had just finished putting his Colt back together when there was a soft knock at his door. "Come in," he said. The door slowly opened and Emily walked in, a sad expression on her face. "What's up?"

She sighed before speaking. "I know that you don't really want to do this, but you are doing the right thing," she said as she closed the door, walking to the couch and taking a seat right next to him. "It does make you seem a lot more honorable."

"Yeah I know. If it was my family I would want the same thing," Derek said, not noticing that Emily was slowly scooting closer to him. When he finally turned to look at he, he face was about an inch away from his. "Why do I get this feeling you like noble, selfless men?"

"Who said I liked in men?" she said with a smile, both of their heads now moving slowly closer one another.

Just before contact, there was a loud pounding on the door immediately followed by Dan shouting, "Hurry up! It's going to take at least a day to get back there and we can't waste anymore time!"

**Thomas, do you know what a cock-blocker is?**

Emily threw her head down, saying, "Well, there goes the moment. Oh well." She proceeded to throw her face right into Derek's, lips locking for just a moment before she pulled back. "I guess we should get going." She stood up and walked out the door, leaving it open for him.

"I guess so," Derek said, standing up and holstering the made sure he had his keys as he shut down the lights and slammed the door. Dan had already climbed into the back of the van, but Emily was standing next to the driver side, her hand held out.

"I'm driving this time," she said.

"Fine by me," he said, handing he the keys. "You're going to be the dominant male of this relationship, aren't you?"

"Oh you have no idea," she returned with a grin. She had climbed inside and already had the engine going before Derek could even get to the door. The van was already backing out of the space by the time he had slammed the door. It clearly seemed that she wanted to get back almost as desperately as Dan did, but Derek knew she was just making up for lost time.

**I know, we handled that quite lightly, but we had to. Keeping our thoughts on something happy was keeping us from turning around and telling Dan to walk. Don't worry though, things got a lot more serious when we arrived...**

A/N: And on that note, chapter end! Don't worry though, I have most of the next chapter drafted out, now I just have to get it put down on digital paper. Don't forget to review.


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